Spades House Rules and Variations Explained

Ask ten spades players for the rules and you'll get ten slightly different answers. The core game is the same everywhere: four players, two partnerships, spades as trump, bid your books and make them. Around that core, every family, dorm and card room adds its own house rules.

This page lists the variants you'll actually meet, what each one does, and whether you can play it at Spades Night. For the rules our table uses by default, see the full spades rules.

Before the first deal: agree out loud

The best house rule is saying the rules before anyone looks at a card. At minimum, settle:

• Which deck (jokers or not) and the trump order.
• Whether nil and blind nil are allowed, and what they score.
• Board or no board.
• What 10 bags cost.
• What score wins, and whether a big negative score loses.

At Spades Night this is built in: the host picks the rules on the Table rules sheet, and everyone at the table plays by the same settings. The House Rules button puts everything back to our defaults.

Deck and trump variants

Jokers and deuces ("joker joker deuce deuce")

What it is: Two jokers join the deck, and the 2♥ and 2♣ come out so there are still 52 cards. The trump order becomes Big Joker, Little Joker, 2♦, 2♠, A♠, then K♠ down to 3♠. The jokers and the 2♦ count as spades. More detail in spades with jokers.

At Spades Night: This is our default. Toggles: Jokers and Deuces high.

Jokers without deuces

What it is: Jokers are top trump, then the A♠ down to the 2♠. To keep 52 cards, the 2♣ and 2♦ come out.

At Spades Night: Yes. Jokers on, Deuces high off.

Deuces without jokers

What it is: A plain 52-card deck where the 2♦ becomes a spade and ranks above the 2♠, which ranks above the A♠.

At Spades Night: Yes. Jokers off, Deuces high on.

Classic ace high

What it is: Standard deck, no jokers, A♠ is the top trump, 2♠ the lowest.

At Spades Night: Yes. Jokers off, Deuces high off.

Other trump orders

Some tables put the 2♠ above the 2♦, or play "deuce-ace" or "joker joker ace" orders. Orders vary a lot by region and family. Spades Night uses one fixed order per setting (listed above), so everyone knows exactly what beats what.

Bidding variants

Board

What it is: A minimum team bid. At many tables each team must bid at least 4 books; some tables use other minimums.

At Spades Night: On by default. A team contract under 4 is raised to 4 automatically. It doesn't apply when both partners bid nil. See board.

Secret or sequential bidding

What it is: Traditional spades bids in turn, starting left of the dealer, so later bidders hear the earlier bids. Some groups bid all at once to stop partners signalling.

At Spades Night: Our default is secret and simultaneous: everyone locks a bid on the same clock and the bids flip together. Turn on Sequential bidding for the classic order.

Nil

What it is: Bid zero tricks. Made is +100, failed is −100 at most tables.

At Spades Night: On by default (toggle Nil). Tricks a failed nil takes count as bags for the team, not toward the partner's bid. Some tables let those tricks help the partner; ours doesn't. More in nil strategy.

Blind nil

What it is: A nil bid before looking at your cards, usually ±200, often only allowed when your team is behind by 100 or more.

At Spades Night: On by default, offered only when your team trails by 100 or more, before you look. Toggle Blind nil.

Passing cards on blind nil

What it is: Many tables let the blind nil bidder and their partner swap one or two cards, so the nil can dump a dangerous card and the partner can send low ones.

At Spades Night: Not offered. A blind nil plays the hand it's dealt.

Bidding 13 ("Boston" as a bid)

What it is: At some tables, bidding all 13 books is a special call worth a big bonus or an instant win.

At Spades Night: You can bid 13 like any other number, but there's no special bid. Taking all 13 tricks earns the Boston bonus (below).

Scoring variants

Bags penalty

What it is: Every 10 overtricks (bags) costs 100 points. Some tables use 5 bags for −50, or no penalty at all.

At Spades Night: On by default: 10 bags cost 100 and the remainder carries over. Toggle Bags penalty turns it off.

10 for 200

What it is: A team that bids 10 or more and makes it scores a flat 200 instead of 10 per book. Being set costs 200.

At Spades Night: Available, off by default. Toggle 10 for 200. See 10 for 200.

Boston

What it is: Taking all 13 tricks. Some tables give 200 points, some give 500, some end the game on the spot.

At Spades Night: A +200 bonus on top of the normal score. It is not an automatic win. See Boston.

Losing at −200

What it is: A team that falls to −200 (sometimes −250 or −500) loses immediately.

At Spades Night: Not used. Games end by hands played or by reaching the target score.

Double set

What it is: At some tables, being set by a large margin, or twice in a row, costs extra.

At Spades Night: Not used. A set always costs 10 per book bid.

Play variants

Breaking spades

What it is: Nobody can lead a spade until a spade has been played on another suit (cut), unless their hand is all spades. Some casual tables drop this rule.

At Spades Night: On by default. Jokers and the 2♦ count as spades. Toggle Break spades. See breaking spades.

First trick rules

What it is: Some tables require the 2♣ to lead the first trick, or forbid spades on the first trick entirely.

At Spades Night: The player left of the dealer leads the first trick with any non-spade. After that, whoever wins a trick leads the next one.

Renege penalties

What it is: A renege is failing to follow suit when you could. At a kitchen table it's caught by the other team and usually costs three books.

At Spades Night: A renege can't happen. The game only lets you play legal cards.

Game length variants

• To 500: The traditional long game. Available at private tables.
• To 300: A shorter classic game. Available at private tables.
• Quick match: Four hands, so every seat deals once. The higher score wins; a tie goes to sudden death. About 12 to 18 minutes. Our default.

Variants we don't offer

A few popular games are close cousins of spades rather than house rules, and they need a different table:

• Cutthroat (every player for themselves, often with three players). See cutthroat spades.
• Suicide spades, where one partner in each team must bid nil.
• Mirrors and whiz, where you must bid the number of spades you hold or bid either your spade count or nil.
• Two-player, three-player and six-player spades. Our table is always four seats; bots fill any empty ones. See spades with 3 players and spades with 6 players for how those tabletop games work.

Pick your rules and deal

Set up a private table, flip the toggles your group plays with, and send the invite link. Missing a fourth? A bot sits in.